Is Zofran hard to quit?

[Anonymous]

My M/S is so severe that I'm considering asking my doctor for Zofran. I'm nearly non-functional. I feel scared to take Zofran b/c there are no long-term studies on the affects of the fetus, but I also am feeling helpless. I've tried EVERYTHING else, including the B6/Unisom combo. One thing I've noticed while reading over past threads about Zofran, is that it seems that the women who use it find that they need to continue to use it through much of the rest of their pregnancy. Is it one of those drugs that your body becomes dependent upon? In my first pregnancy, my severe M/S cleared up by 16 weeks (I'm currently 6 weeks). I'm afraid that if I start the Zofran, I won't be able to give it up at that time. I realize that every pg is different and that it may let up earlier or later than last time, but I'm fearful I'll become dependent on it for longer than that. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Talk to your doctor about possibilities that don't involve medication. The medication might affect your baby.

[Anonymous]

Couple of thoughts:

If your morning sickness is leaving you non-functional, whatever side effects may come from the Zofran would be overshadowed by the extremely positive effects of actually getting good nutrition to your fetus at a critical time in its development (not to mention what it'll mean to your own mental health to actually be able to eat)

I think the reason why you see other women taking it throughout their pregnancy is because their severe nausea lasts that long, not because they are addicted to the drug. It doesn't have any addictive qualities. (But it can cause constipation, so that's something to watch for.)

Do what you need to do to be well.

[Anonymous]

Also, just to reassure you regarding the effects on the fetus, Zofran is a category B drug, "not expected to be harmful to an unborn baby." Other drugs in category B include prenatal vitamins and Tylenol.

http://www.drugs.com/zofran.html

[Anonymous]

Zofran can be great. Start at the recommended dose (from your doctor) and see how you do. If it helps, keep it up. If you think you could use less and still function ok, then cut the pills in half and try that. Its not an addictive drug and it won't get you to 100%, but it helps you be able to function. Just taper off to half pills if you can after a few weeks, then stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couple of thoughts:

If your morning sickness is leaving you non-functional, whatever side effects may come from the Zofran would be overshadowed by the extremely positive effects of actually getting good nutrition to your fetus at a critical time in its development (not to mention what it'll mean to your own mental health to actually be able to eat)

I think the reason why you see other women taking it throughout their pregnancy is because their severe nausea lasts that long, not because they are addicted to the drug. It doesn't have any addictive qualities. (But it can cause constipation, so that's something to watch for.)

Do what you need to do to be well.

This. I was on Zofran from week 7 until I delivered, though on a very low dose (4mg total, 2mg twice/day) from about week 20 on. As soon as I delivered, I felt better than I had since, well, week 7, and didn't have any trouble going off Zofran. You do need to taper it slowly if you're on it, can't just go cold turkey.

My seven month old daughter is quite healthy. True, there no controlled studies of the long-term effects of Zofran, but women have been using it for morning sickness for 10+ years. If there were something major, we would have seen it by now. Being unable to keep food down and depriving the baby of nutrition needed for development is nothing to sneeze at.

Hang in there. It sucks, but is totally worth it, or at least it was for me.

[Anonymous]

I used zofran in both of my pregnancies because I was almost non functional as well (and not eating because I couldn't look at food without vomiting)! I was able to go off in the third trimester both times and had no problems. Both of my girls are extremely healthy....!

[Anonymous]

True, there no controlled studies of the long-term effects of Zofran,

And just to pick up on this point...there are hardly any controlled studies of the long-term effects of many, many, many drugs. That's because you can't give pregnant women drugs that you think might be harmful and then just measure whether their babies turn out all right or not; it's not ethical. The best we often can do is animal models.

I wouldn't let the lack of some study out there saying "It's 100 percent okay!" turn you off, because we don't have that level of certainty about most things we do in pregnancy. And yet, we still take prenatal vitamins and Tylenol and Benadryl and such.

Be well...

[Anonymous]

Thank you, all, for your encouraging words. I think I'll give it a try.

[Anonymous]

I used it for about a week during my pregnancy and my only complaint was it caused severe constipation. So, either take it with a stool softener, or try half a pill a day instead of one pill and see if that works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used it for about a week during my pregnancy and my only complaint was it caused severe constipation. So, either take it with a stool softener, or try half a pill a day instead of one pill and see if that works.

Did you stop taking it after a week because you started to feel better, or because of the constipation?

[Anonymous]

Both my RE (Dr. Sacks) and my OB had absolutely no concerns about the use of Zofran. I took it for 6-8 weeks, and my DD seems as bright and healthy as can be. Also, I experienced no side effects from stopping it at all. You take it on an as-needed basis - like Tylenol. Once you no longer need it (no MS), you just stop. Good luck! Going on it with my second pregnancy was the best thing I ever did!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my RE (Dr. Sacks) and my OB had absolutely no concerns about the use of Zofran. I took it for 6-8 weeks, and my DD seems as bright and healthy as can be. Also, I experienced no side effects from stopping it at all. You take it on an as-needed basis - like Tylenol. Once you no longer need it (no MS), you just stop. Good luck! Going on it with my second pregnancy was the best thing I ever did!

Very helpful response. Thank you much, PP.

[Anonymous]

Did you stop taking it after a week because you started to feel better, or because of the constipation?

I stopped because of the constipation. I took 1 pill each day for 5 days straight, and then realized that I was constipated. It took about 24 hours of straining, suppositories, stool softeners, etc. to get it out - it was like passing a rock covered in glass. It wasn't till I did a google search on Zofran and constipation that I figured out the connection. It may not happen to you - it doesn't affect everyone this way, but you should be aware of the risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Did you stop taking it after a week because you started to feel better, or because of the constipation?

I stopped because of the constipation. I took 1 pill each day for 5 days straight, and then realized that I was constipated. It took about 24 hours of straining, suppositories, stool softeners, etc. to get it out - it was like passing a rock covered in glass. It wasn't till I did a google search on Zofran and constipation that I figured out the connection. It may not happen to you - it doesn't affect everyone this way, but you should be aware of the risk.

It pretty much does affect everyone this way - if you take it you should absolutely take colace, miralax, etc. It will come with pretty crazy warnings about the constipation.